Split into three counties—Hancock in the west, Harrison in the middle and Jackson in the east—the Mississippi Gulf Coast combines nonstop gaming, traditional beach and ocean activities and more than 20 golf courses along 60 miles of shoreline.
"The beaches are clean and gorgeous. We’re a great value. You can golf and gamble and fish in the same day. There is so much to do," says Richard Forester, executive director at the Mississippi Gulf Coast CVB, which promotes Harrison County.
A year ago, news was dominated by the Gulf oil spill, which was capped in July. The Mississippi Gulf Coast CVB quickly announced that the coast remained open for business.
"There was an impact," Forester says. "Oil washed up on the barrier islands but it hardly affected the mainland beaches."
BP initially granted $15 million each to Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana, and $25 million to Florida for tourism promotion. And in August, Mississippi’s three coastal counties shared $3 million from BP to promote during the fall season.
Last year, the Biloxi-Gulfport metro area had an average occupancy of 66.3 percent, up from 61.5 percent in 2009. And the average daily rate of $80.71 was up from $79.72, according to Smith Travel Research. Meanwhile, total passengers at Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport increased 11.6 percent last year after a 17.9 percent drop in 2009.
"We’ve been doing well," he says, noting that the hotel room tax increased 13.5 percent October through February, but that much of the coast’s hotel business after the spill was oil-spill related.
Gulfport/Biloxi
The glitzy core of the coast’s tourism is Harrison County, with nine of the coast’s 11 casinos. It encompasses the cities of Gulfport and Biloxi and 26 miles of white-sand beach. Additionally, nine of the 11 casinos have hotels, which account for 5,560 of the coast’s almost 13,000 rooms.
A ribbon cutting and dedication was held in August 2010 to commemorate the completion of a $118 million expansion and renovation of Biloxi’s Mississippi Coast Coliseum and Convention Center, a five-year project.
The facility was increased in size from 180,000 to 413,000 square feet of space and can now accommodate groups of up to 6,000 compared with 2,500 previously. It hosted the annual National Governors Association annual meeting in the summer of 2009 when the expansion component was unveiled.
"The convention center is doing good business and is doing especially well with trade shows, but it is not going to reach its full potential until we get a headquarters hotel," Forester says.
Authorities have been negotiating with developers representing five hotel flags to build a 500-room hotel.
The area’s largest meeting properties are MGM Resorts International’s 1,740-room Beau Rivage Resort & Casino, with 50,000 square feet of meeting space, and the 1,088-room IP Casino Resort & Spa, with 37,400 square feet of meeting space.
Steps from the Beau Rivage and across from the beach, the new 195-room Four Points by Sheraton Biloxi Beach Boulevard opened last June. And the 100-room South Beach Biloxi Hotel & Suites, billed as Biloxi’s only beachfront hotel, opened last October with a 2,200-square-foot meeting room.
Others with meeting space include the Grand Biloxi Casino Hotel, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Isle Casino Hotel and Treasure Bay Casino & Hotel.
Groups have plenty of options to get out on the water, including the Biloxi Schooners, the Biloxi Shrimping Trip and Ship Island Excursions.
In November, the $35 million Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art opened the first phase of its new campus in three of five proposed Frank Gehry-designed buildings. The first phase features a welcome center, the IP Casino Exhibitions Gallery and the Gallery of African American Art.
Event spaces include the Pleasant Reed Interpretive Center, a replica of a shotgun home built by a freed slave from Biloxi. The second phase, which will include a ceramics center and space for the permanent collection of George Ohr, "The Mad Potter of Biloxi," is expected to open in 2012.
The Maritime & Seafood Industry Museum, its buildings destroyed by Katrina, was planning to rebuild on a site to the east of the art museum. However, it has reportedly changed rebuilding plans back to its original museum site at Point Cadet in Biloxi. Last spring it opened a temporary museum at Edgewater Mall in Biloxi.
Also along Beach Boulevard is Beauvoir, the post-war home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, which reopened in 2008 after the renovation and rebuilding from Katrina damage. A new $10.5 million presidential library and museum that is under construction will open next year. The grounds can be rented for functions of up to 300 people.
Other attractions in the area include the Lynn Meadows Discovery Center in Gulfport, a children’s museum with meeting and event space.
Bay St. Louis/Hancock County
With 13 miles of coastline, two casinos and 800 hotel rooms, Hancock County is "Mississippi’s West Coast," combining a thriving arts scene with beaches and the Stennis Space Center, NASA’s largest rocket-engine test site.
Bay St. Louis, the county town with a population of over 8,000, is 30 miles west of Biloxi and 57 miles east of New Orleans.
"We have a balanced product—the casino action, all the water sports, the arts and history," says Beth Carriere, executive director at the Mississippi West Coast/Hancock County Tourism Development Bureau. "We have the highest concentration of restaurants with local cuisine on the coast. We’ve hosted beach parties, and our piers are great for events. And we have more than 200 resident artists."
The Hollywood Casino & Hotel, the area’s major meetings facility, has 291 guest rooms, golf and more than 14,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 10,000-square-foot ballroom.
There is also the Silver Slipper Casino, which has three restaurants. The Gulf Coast’s first purpose-built land-based casino, it opened in 2006 after the state approved building casinos on land following Katrina.
In January, the city opened the new multipurpose Bay St. Louis Community Hall in the historic Depot District of the city’s Old Town. Available for rent, it features a 6,630-square-foot grand hall seating 420 for banquets, a 1,700-square-foot gallery hall and several meeting rooms.
Infinity at NASA Stennis Space Center is under construction on 199 acres and slated to open in 2012. The $44 million, 67,000-square-foot visitor facility will replace the existing visitor center, the StenniSphere, and will include a welcome area, a free activity area, a gift shop, a 3D theater and Earth and Space Galleries.
"It’s going to be one of the biggest Mississippi tourism happenings in many years," Carriere says.
Ocean Springs/Jackson County
Just east of Biloxi across a bridge is Ocean Springs, a walkaround town that like Bay St. Louis is known for its arts community as well as being a traditional beach destination.
"We have more than 100 shops and galleries downtown and about 150 in total, and 100 restaurants, 30 of them downtown. Most months we have one or more festivals. We have lots of kayaking, fishing and hiking and biking trails," says Cynthia Dobbs, spokesperson for the Ocean Springs Chamber of Commerce.
Ocean Springs has more than a dozen brand-name hotels, some with meeting space. The 52-room Gulf Hills Hotel and Conference Center, dating to 1927, features 18 holes of golf and meeting facilities for up to 350.
The town is well endowed with space for off-site gatherings.
The Mary C. O’Keefe Cultural Center for the Arts and Education has a number of rooms and studios for rent, including a cafe and a 383-seat performing arts center. Classes, including cooking programs, can be arranged for groups.
The Walter Anderson Museum of Art in downtown houses the work of Anderson, a famed Oceans Springs painter. The facility can host receptions for small groups. Adjacent to the museum of art is the Ocean Springs Community Center, which can host banquets for 150.
The Ocean Springs Civic Center can handle banquets for up to 22, and the historic L&N Depot in the town’s center, home to the chamber and visitor center, also has a meeting room with a capacity for 25 people.
Freelancer Tony Bartlett has been covering the travel industry for more than 20 years.
